Treasure in Cyprus In Rhodes the Italians, in Syria the
French, in Con- stantinople the - Americans have been spending money to uncover, restore or preserve artistic monuments of the past. But the British administrators of Cyprus have hitherto been neglectful of the splendid historical relics of many past ages and many civilizations—some of which have perished for ever, others are still intact, others threatened with dissolution if they are not preserved. But thanks to the efforts of a committee formed for the purpose, an exact inquiry has been- made by Sir Charles Peers and others into the condition of the most remarkable Greek, Roman and mediaeval monu- ments which demand immediate attention. The esti- mated costs of repair—towards which they are appealing for funds—of various palaces, churches, abbeys and castles, seem in each case strangely small ; but labour and materials are cheap in Cyprus. What an opportunity to be the restorer of the thirteenth-century Praemonstra- tensian abbey of Bella Pais, for £400, or of St. Hilarion, the palace of the Lusignan Kings near Kyrenia, with its Byzantine chapel and open loggia, for £700, in the country of Aphrodite and Salaminian Tcuccr.
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